Restrictions lifted from AU's educational raptors

Educational birds in Auburn University's Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center will soon be teaching students again.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has lifted restrictions on the center's educational raptors, allowing the center to take birds to places such as schools and wildlife conservation events. A disease outbreak this summer caused the center to temporarily stop the programs.

"We hope to reestablish the public programs soon," said Dr. Timothy Boosinger, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. "Our staff and volunteers are working with the birds so we can take these magnificent animals back into local schools and other venues. The birds are used to teach the public about raptors and their ecological role in the environment."

Auburn's famed golden eagle Tiger and bald eagle Spirit are part of the educational collection, but have been sidelined from pregame flights for other health concerns. Twenty-six-year-old Tiger was grounded in 2002, and Spirit underwent surgery earlier this year for small rocks ingested.

"They are doing well and should be able to participate in some educational programs," Dr. Boosinger said.

The center also temporarily stopped admitting and releasing raptors this summer after the illnesses. Eight birds in the educational collection died and four more were euthanized, as were eight suspect wild birds in the rehabilitation section. Twelve educational birds and 17 wild ones were unaffected.

"We got approval to release the 17 rehabilitated birds back into the wild, which was done in mid-September," Dr. Boosinger said. "This was a very positive happening for Auburn University."

He says the center's rehabilitation section is still awaiting approval from the Fish and Wildlife Service to begin accepting wild birds again.
 

A series of postmortem diagnostic tests by Alabama State Diagnostic Laboratory has revealed that the disease outbreak was caused by nutritional deficiencies, rather than the initially suspected organism, Mycoplasma gallisepticum.

"Testing has shown that the affected birds died from complications associated with malnutrition due to an improper diet," said Dr. Boosinger. "Investigation into feeding records indicates that the educational birds were switched to an inappropriate, all-quail diet in the spring of 2002. The internal organs were removed before the quail were fed to the raptors, thus removing valuable nutrients."

Initial testing pointed to Mycoplasma gallisepticum, but more sensitive tests have since revealed that a known raptor mycoplasma, Mycoplasma gypis, cross reacted with the test agent, thus causing a false positive result. Mycoplasma gypis is not known to cause disease in normal, healthy raptors.

"None of the birds had Mycoplasma gallisepticum. It was all diet-related," he said. "Some wild birds were euthanized based on test results at the time. Educational birds, which are housed separately at the center, were kept under observation."

The lack of essential nutrients, such as vitamin A, opened the door for a variety of illnesses that otherwise would have been fought off by the bird's immune system. A balanced, recommended diet consists of small rodents and occasionally fish, chicken parts and birds.

"The dietary change was made by former raptor center personnel without our knowledge," Dr. Boosinger said. "Unfortunately, dietary records on the educational birds were not shared with the avian veterinarian, and were discovered only in July."

New feeding protocols and reporting procedures have been implemented to prevent such problems in the future, he added. 

"Some individuals in recent months have mistakenly suggested we should have euthanized every bird at the center, rather than taking the appropriate scientific approach," Dr. Boosinger said. "As veterinarians, we believe that all measures should be taken to investigate diseases and their causes, while saving as many birds as possible.

"The scientific approach took more time, but we have now added to the limited body of knowledge of raptor medicine, which will save many birds in the future."

The Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center, which began in the mid-1970s, treats about 500 birds of prey annually from an average of 21 species, including bald eagles, golden eagles, peregrine falcons, great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, and many other species. Historically the center rehabilitates and releases more than one-third of the sick and injured raptors brought to the facility.